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Covington’s International Trade and National Security Practices Expand with Lichtenbaum

August 10, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC, August 10, 2010 — Covington & Burling LLP is pleased to announce that Peter Lichtenbaum, most recently Vice President for Regulatory Compliance and International Policy at BAE Systems, Inc., has joined the firm as a partner. He will be resident in Covington’s Washington office, and will concentrate in the firm’s International Trade and Finance Practice, working in the Defense, Homeland and National Security Industry Group.

At BAE Systems, Inc., the US subsidiary of the world’s largest defense contractor, Mr. Lichtenbaum focused on a broad array of regulatory compliance and policy matters, including export controls, national security reviews of foreign investments, anti-corruption laws, and other international issues. Previously, Mr. Lichtenbaum held senior positions in the Department of Commerce, one of three key agencies responsible for administering US trade controls.

From October 2003 through February 2006, he served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration, responsible for developing the Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) policies regarding controls on the export of dual-use items for national security, foreign policy, nonproliferation, and other reasons. Mr. Lichtenbaum also chaired the inter-agency Advisory Committee on Export Policy, and managed BIS’s participation in multilateral export control regimes. In addition, he represented the Department of Commerce in a number of sensitive matters reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). During his tenure at the Commerce Department, Mr. Lichtenbaum also served as Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security and as Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.

“Peter’s senior-level positions at both the Commerce Department and BAE Systems have provided him with exceptional experience working with defense contractors and other companies active in the defense, aerospace, intelligence and homeland security fields,” said Peter Flanagan, a partner in Covington’s international practice and a member of the firm’s management committee. “In particular, his expertise and senior policy experience with US trade control matters will be a tremendous asset to our international trade and national security practices.”

Mr. Lichtenbaum’s background in private practice also includes managing the development and defense of several major World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement cases, in which he worked closely with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and other governments. He advised major companies regarding WTO trade policy matters and US regulation of international businesses, particularly in the areas of foreign economic sanctions administered by the Treasury Department and export controls administered by the State and Commerce Departments. He also handled a wide variety of anti-dumping and countervailing duty matters.

Mr. Lichtenbaum commented: “I am very excited to be joining Covington and working with an international team that includes four ambassadors and former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The firm’s broad and high-profile international platform, noted for the success of its CFIUS and export control practices, will provide me with a strong foundation upon which to build my practice.”

Mr. Lichtenbaum is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 1990, he graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude while also receiving a master's degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. After Harvard, Mr. Lichtenbaum spent two years as an attorney in the honors program at the Department of the Treasury, working on international economic policy issues.

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Covington & Burling LLP operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide, with the practice in England and Wales conducted by an affiliated
limited liability multinational partnership, Covington & Burling LLP, which is formed under the laws of the State of Delaware in the United States
and authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority with registration number 77071.
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